Those who are interested in cheap car insurance are advised to avoid investing in any of the hundreds of vintage cars that took part in the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run on Sunday.
The annual event is held to commemorate the first “Emancipation Run” which was held in 1896 to mark the passing of the Locomotives on Highways Act, which increased the speed limit for “light locomotives” from 4mph to 14mph and meant that vehicles no longer needed to be preceded by a man on foot carrying a red flag. The next run did not take place until 1927, when it was held as a re-enactment of the 1896 run. Since then, it has taken place in November every year, with the exception of the war years and 1947, due to petrol rationing1.
It is an endurance event rather than a race and, as its name suggests, it takes in the 60 mile historic route from London to Brighton. The run was set to start on Sunday at Hyde Park, with the cars leaving in pairs until about 8:40am. The cars were expected to arrive at Preston Park in Brighton from 10:05am.
Cars must be of pre-1905 registration to be eligible for entry and this year’s rally involved more than 500 vehicles setting off from Hyde Park to drive the 60 mile route to East Sussex in the autumnal sun. Organisers of the Royal Automobile Club’s 77th event said that there was an entry list of 575 vehicles, but that some had not even managed to reach the start line.
A spokesman for the rally explained that as all of the cars were more than 100 years old and hence not the most reliable cars, there was always going to be a handful of non-starters in addition to those that suffered a breakdown on the route itself. He added that although some of the participating cars had top speeds of as much as 60mph, most were travelling at around 20mph2.
One of the first vehicles across the start line was a Benz Victoria from circa 1894, while another participant was a 1904 Darracq, which starred in the film Genevieve in 1953, a comedy about two couples who contest the rally. There were even some familiar names among the drivers, including former Formula One driver, Jochen Mass.3
164 marques were represented in the race, with the youngest driver being 18 and the oldest, 91. The last car was expected to cross the finish line at 4:30pm.
Charlotte Walker writes for MediaVest (Manchester) on a number of motor related topics, including ways to compare car insurance .